In a recent CNET article written by Lance Whitney entitled: Heads up, LinkedIn users: 93% of recruiters are looking at you, A recent survey from Jobvite found that 93 percent of job recruiters tap into LinkedIn to find qualified candidates, up from 87 percent last year and 78 percent in 2010. FaceBook and Twitter also realized similar growth rates.
Overall, 92% of employers and recruiters are already using or plan to use social network sites as a source for locating job candidates. Of the recruiters polled, 73% reported that they had hired someone who was either found or introduced through a social network. An astonishing 89% found someone through LinkedIn while only 26% and 15% respectively were found through FaceBook and Twitter. Kudos to LinkedIn!
So what’s the bad news? Job candidates beware! When preparing your resume, it’s important to keep in mind that what you say and how you say it will be available to millions of social network users. Everything from simple grammatical mistakes to more serious resume embellishment will now be on stage for the world to see. Yes, visibility comes at a price so it’s critical to put the time and effort into developing a resume that is both accurate and professional.
Although not addressed in the article, the obvious question seems to be will recruiters and employment agencies someday be displaced or dis-inter mediated by the social networks? Only time will tell.
